In spite of the variety of housing and businesses observed on today's walk in Ravenna, it was nature that made the biggest impression on me. I passed spectacular trees, some still lovely, ...

... some butchered but surviving ...


... and some blooming and adorning the street edge. I even noted a number of palm trees.


One of Nature's other features was hills; I got a real workout today.


When I wasn't appreciating Nature, I was looking at housing. (I won't write about the businesses in this area because I mentioned them in an earlier post.) This townhome development was neat and didn't seem to feel as crowded as most of the others I have seen. It didn't look as if they had tried to accommodate automobiles.


These townhomes on the land that once housed Saxe Floral's greenhouses are well kept and do provide garages. 

I saw a backhoe excavating a lot, a house that appeared to have almost burned down, a sign proposing a 5 bedroom/4 bath house be constructed near 68th and Ravenna, a vacant lot between 16th and 15th Avenues, large new apartment buildings on 15th and ...


... this house on the corner of 68th and 19th, whose shape and position on the lot reminded me of the old corner stores that were once a feature of many neighborhoods.


This picture, posted on what was probably once a door, confirmed my guess.

Behind the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center, lies the old Ravenna School which has been converted to senior apartments run by the Seattle Housing Authority.

Also near the community center are this street painting and ...

... this garden which, for the last 12 years has been maintained by Ravenna Community Gardens but has now been turned over to the City of Seattle Urban Food Systems.

Back among the mostly single family homes, I spotted a tree house, Neighborhood Greenway signs, quite a few bike lane signs and one rental electric scooter.

Along my five mile walk, I found a footpath connecting the two dead ends along 21st Avenue between 70th and 73rd Streets. I also saw four Little Free Libraries. One was designated a "Kid Library" and contained Harry Potter books. The others contained novels, a Bible, a Vietnamese cookbook, books for wordsmiths, left-handed people, messy people, working people, people hiking with dogs, a diet book and an autobiography of Bill Clinton.


 

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